Advanced TB care in Dhubri

The DOTS (Direct Observance Treatment and Short Chemotherapy) Plus treatment will be administered for free under the Revised National TB Control Programme.

A source in Dhubri Chest Hospital said the idea was to provide the most advanced treatment to TB patients who were not responding to DOTs treatment.

A national-level survey indicates that the number of TB patients in the country grows by 3 per cent every year. While 12 to 17 per cent of patients fails to recover, the source said.The new treatment has been aimed at controlling the spread of TB and is being administered across the country for free, the source said.

RNTCP’s Dhubri district TB officer Dr J.B. Roy said besides medicines, the programme would also bear the travelling expense of a patient and one attendant to Guwahati LGB Chest Hospital to undergo pathological tests. Preliminary treatment will be free as well, as will the attendant’s boarding cost for seven days.

“This pathological test is very expensive and costs around Rs 5,000 outside, but it is done free of cost and this kind of test is required to be done at least 8 times in the course of treatment of the patients, which spans over two years,” Roy said.

He said sputum samples of nine suspected tuberculosis patients, who were not responding to DOTS treatment, had been sent to International Referral Laboratory in Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

Dhubri Chest Hospital is one of the five chest hospitals in Assam. It treats over 30 lakh people, including those from East Garo Hills in Meghalaya.